Barricade
by Clever Fox Child
Summary: --Alternate Universe Warning-- Set in a town outside of Little Rock, Arkansas. -COMPLETE-
1. Character Analog

**Angela:**Main Character, story told from her point of view. 

**Appearance:** 5 foot 5 inches in height.  Thin, sort of muscular.  Heart-shaped face, bright blue almond-shaped eyes, tanned/olive colored skin. Has dark brown hair in ringlet-curls, but light brown finely arched eyebrows.  During the prologue she wears raggedy sweats.  During the story she wears baggy dark blue jeans with a thick black leather belt, and a black tight shirt.  At the end she wears light blue flares that are an inch too long for her, and a white shirt that's a tad oversized.  Prologue= eleven-years-old.  Middle= sixteen/seventeen-years old.  End= eighteen-years-old.

**Attitude:** Knows her place, but can be cocky.  Protective.  Is cold to everyone, mostly.  Knows how to turn things right when they've gone wrong.  Always has a head on her shoulders.

**Angela's Mother:** Abusive mother to main character

**Appearance:** 5 foot 7 inches in height.  Thin, but pudgy from drinking.  Oval shaped face and bright blue eyes.  Wears raggedy sweats throughout the story, mostly in grays or dusty blacks.

**Attitude:** Mean-spirited, close-minded, abusive.

**Joey:**eight-year-old boy who cares deeply for Angela

**Appearance:** 4 foot 3 inches in height.  Young, small, but muscular for his age.  Usually wears work clothes that can be worn while working on a farm.  (When he's first mentioned he's wearing light blue overalls with one of the buckles undone, a dusty white shirt beneath, and his sand-colored hair is overgrown and messed up quite a bit).  Sorrowful gray almond-shaped, eyes.  Tanned skin but tinted red with sunburn.  A few freckles sprinkled on his nose and cheeks.

**Attitude:** Always ready to help.  Usually smiling.  Cares for Angela like a mother.  Knows how to sometimes defrost Angela's icy side.

 **(Inu) Yasha: **cares for main character like a sister

**Appearance: **5 foot 7 inches in height. Nineteen-year-old guy with long silver hair tied back in a low tail.  His just-visible ears have a very slight point to them, and when he grins his fanglike teeth are shone.  He wears black pants three sizes too large for him, the waist falling around his butt, exposing his black, red, and white striped boxers, and a red shirt mostly covers his exposed boxers.  2nd mention of him, he's wearing faded dark blue jeans and a gray muscle tank top, showing off his muscular arms.  End he's wearing whatever your (my readers') hearts desire.

**Attitude:** Fun-loving can be cocky, always happy to help.

**Kagome:**Yasha's girlfriend

**Appearance:** 5 foot 5 inches in height. Long black skirt with a dark blue blouse, matching the color of her eyes.  Last mention she's wearing a beige jean jacket with a white tight shirt barely visible under the jacket, a matching beige jean skirt. 

**Attitude:** Shy, usually quiet, but knows when to speak up.

**Sesshoumaru****:** takes an interest in main character

**Appearance:** 6 foot 1 inch in height.  Muscular (looks like he does on the show, without the furry thing on his shoulder or the markings on his face…Still Sexy!)  1st mention he wears tan work-pants and a stunningly white shirt.  Last mention he wears beige jeans and a black muscle shirt.  His hair is even longer than (Inu) Yasha's and reaches to his waist, but he too wears it in a low tail.

**Attitude:** Freezing but keeps his temper.  Acts cold towards everyone, but only slightly to Angela… and he treats (Inu) Yasha only half as bad as he does on the show (or in the magna).  Doesn't mind Joey, but doesn't seem to really notice Kagome.

**Minor Characters:******

**Tom: **cheapskate orphan; fifteen-years-old

**Jake: **friend to main character, also an orphan, becomes leader at the end; sixteen-years-old

**Henry:** abusive father to Joey

**Beth:** restaurant owner and waitress

**Neighborly face:** Beth's husband


	2. Barricade chapters 1 through 5 Complete

Barricade

Prologue:

Escape 

"You little piece of shit!"  My body goes crashing into a bookshelf, which as I slide onto the floor comes down on top of me as well as its contents.  "No wonder your father left this family!  Because he knew you'd turn into the little whore you've become!"  

_Please let me die.  Make the yelling stop_.  The bookshelf is lifted off of me and instead a booted foot embeds itself into my right side.  _Maybe mother will be happy when I'm gone?_  Again and again the booted foot hits me repeatedly in my right side, once in awhile stopping to take aim somewhere else before kicking me again.  Tears are in my eyes and I can't stop them from falling.  _Why god, why does she do this to me?  Am I really so bad?  And if I'm so horrible why haven't you taken my life?_ I'm begging god to kill me, how pathetic.

My body is lifted again, but I've closed my eyes.  I don't want to see where I'm going to get thrown this time.  It's times like these I wish I wasn't such a lightweight.  Why not now?  I have muscles, why shouldn't I fight back? _ Because you can't hurt your mother_, my conscious kicks in and I want to strangle that small voice_.  And you'd call this a walk in the park! _I retort out of anger.  Suddenly I feel glass embedding itself into my arms, which protect my face, ripping at my clothing before I land on something wooden…  I want to scream, I can feel it rising in my throat, but I force it down, I don't want to give mother that much satisfaction, knowing how much this hurts me, emotionally and physically.

"You stupid little bitch, now look at what you've done!"  Mother is yelling at me through our front window.  I lie in a bleeding heap on the floor; scared to move from fear she'll know I'm still alive.  _Maybe if I just lie here she'll think I'm unconscious and leave me alone?_  But again I'm wrong as I hear glass crunching and I know she's coming towards me.  More tears steak down my cheek and I can't help but think, _is this why we live in the country?_  That was a mistake though as I smirk unbeknownst to myself, but mother sees it and thinks I haven't had enough.  "Oh so you're happy you went and broke the window?  Do you put me through this torture on purpose?"  At this I've had enough.  I've been her whipping post for five years, since I was six years old.

"No." I whisper and struggle to move, though I'm in great pain and bleeding terribly.

"What did you say, you stupid shit?"  Mother hisses.

"No!"  I scream, finally finding courage and strength to get back up on my feet, though swaying from loss of blood.  Mother looks shocked and angry, I feel bad and want to take it back but I can't, I can't stop now, it will only cause more pain and suffering.  "It's not my fault!"  Now the tears have reached their climax and blur my usually great vision.  My sobs choke me and I can't speak anymore, and so I turn, and I run for all my thin muscular legs are worth, injured or not.

"Get back here you fuckin whore!"  An empty bottle of what was once filled with vodka flies past my head as I sprint down the dirt road.  Mother and I know she's too drunk to drive, so she won't be able to follow me for a while, unless she'd like to get arrested and housed in jail for a few years.  "Fuck you!  Don't bother coming back!"  Her screams cut through me worse then the glass embedded in my arms.  Nonetheless I wipe away my tears, though they keep resurfacing, mixing with my own blood spattered near bruises on my face.

No matter how tired I feel right now I can't stop running.  The only thing that keeps me going is a single thought, _if you stop now she'll catch you and punish you_.  I won't let her; I won't let her catch me, not this time.  Sooner or later she's going to have to face her own mistakes, so why not sooner?  

Finally fatigue sets in and I collapse.  I've been running since late afternoon, and my last glance at a clock read eleven o'clock pm.  At least I'm no longer in the country where all the farms and houses are miles apart.  No, I've reached the city, a pleasant little town twenty miles away from my house.  Even if I wanted to I can't move.  Why would I?  I have no money, what I'd called a mother doesn't deserve the name, and so I have no family.  Why shouldn't I just lie here and die?  Perhaps I'll get lucky and I'm in the middle of a street, some car will run down and get it over with?  As long as I don't go back, I won't go back to that hell she called home ever.

"You should be in a hospital!"  It's a boy's voice that greets my ears.  I can't move, I can't even open my eyes, and my throat is much too dry so I can't speak at the moment.  From the sound of it he's not much older then me, his voice is rough and cool with notes of concern and panic, but he's definitely not younger then me.  I listen as fabric rustles, before a warm hand touches my shoulder, but I flinch away.  "Wait here, I'll go find help."

_Like I'm going to move_, my thoughts growl but I can't do much else.   Already I'm drifting in and out of consciousness.

Chapter One:

New Beginnings

"Yo! Angela!"  Joey's voice calls to me and I turn my head slightly to greet him with a stoic mask.

"What?" I ask as though annoyed.

"Yasha is back!  Came in this morning." Unfazed by my frozen atmosphere, Joey continues with just as much boyishness as before.  Really Joey's a great guy, but he's too gentle and compassionate, and only eight-years-old.  Though I have nothing to complain about him, I'm only eight years older than him and it isn't exactly my place to be criticizing people.

At the mention of Yasha I raise a light-brown eyebrow at him now.  He's the one that rescued me, Yasha, back five years ago.  It's hard to believe it's been so long.  I found out just a month after I was released from hospital custody that he had saved me, and as a surprise, he stood waiting for me outside the hospital.

-Memory-

Standing just outside the hospital exit is a boy with long silver hair tied back in a low tail.  His just-visible ears have a very slight point to them, and while he grins I notice his fanglike teeth.  He wears black pants three sizes too large for him, the waist falling around his butt, exposing his black, red, and white striped boxers, and a red shirt mostly covers his exposed boxers.  Also, he's tall, though to me anyone is quite tall as I'm only 5'5", so he must be at least 5'8"… looks like he's three years older, at the very least he's fourteen. 

"Feeling better?" Asks the strange boy.

"Who're you?" I shoot back.

"Yasha.  So I take it you ain't got any place to go back to?" He asks boldly and for a moment I want to retort with a smart remark, but I find no words coming to mind and he's right.  "I don't know how you got into that kind of shape, but I know enough about injuries to know, whoever did that to you, you won't want to return to, and you won't want to find you." Continues Yasha while I just stare at the ground by his feet.  "So, you can come 'long with me and my boys, or you can wander round on your own.  This town ain't too dangerous, but times don't stay innocent."

-End Memory-

Joey looks at me expectantly and a small smirk creeps to my lips, pleasing Joey more than it would have anyone else.

"From what I hear, you're the new leader?"  Says a familiar voice I haven't heard in at least a year.  I turn completely around and try to force down the grin trying to come to my lips, but end up having to compromise with a small smile.

"Well, you can't teach an old dog new tricks, and I'm still a pup." Both Yasha's smile and mine widen, yet that's when I notice the girl behind him, as well as another boy that looks like an older version of Yasha.  My smile vanishes at once and my stoic mask is replaced.  "Who're they?" 

The attention of the two strangers is attracted by my question and the older version of Yasha mirrors my deadpan expression.

"They're okay.  Kagome's my girlfriend, and the tall guy is my older brother." 

"Half," mutters Yasha's older _half_ brother coldly.

"Anyway," Yasha says pointedly without glancing at the strangers, "he's Sesshoumaru." 

I nod to them but distrust flits through my eyes, which I hide expertly before any of them have a chance to notice. The girl, Kagome, suddenly clears her throat and smiles at me.  I smirk, because any friend of Yasha's has to be accepted, but I can't bring myself to smile.

"Oh," says Yasha distractedly and turns to his girlfriend, Kagome, then points at me.  "She's a good friend, Angela.  Behind her is Joey.  The rest of the guys-,"

"Won't be back for a week.  They've gone south for the winter," Yasha jerks his head back in my direction and raises an eyebrow.  I shrug. "There weren't no reason for them to stay," my country accent is evident here.  "Tom wanted to go see the city, said he missed it.  I made the others go," my eyes harden, "Xavier still's got a great grudge against you and walks that city like he built it."

Yasha gives a laugh.  "Like to see him come round to the farm land and work for his meals."

Again I shrug then turn.

"C'mon Joey, let 'em get acquainted with our town.  See you Yasha." I walk off and Joey reluctantly follows.

"Why aren't we staying with 'em?" He asks innocently.

"There ain't no danger in this li'l town, less Yasha's developed a fear of snakes or coons."

Joey sighs and I know he's disappointed, but I don't want to cramp Yasha's style.  Like the rest of the guys, I know Yasha's attitude.  But Joey's new; he's still as innocent as a he was before his dad became a drunk.  Some of the guys used to poke fun at him for it, rumor was Joey's got a bit of brain damage from his dad's abuse, and I put a stop to it as soon as I found out.  If the boys want to stay a gang, they'll listen to me.  They didn't elect me leader for me to sit back and smile when they did something they knew was unacceptable.

Chapter Two:

Scars of Hate

A few hours later Joey and me head to a restaurant.  We've been working for Mr. Johanson, picking strawberries so he can take the crates down to the city by next week.  Usually I've got the other boys coming around with us to help out, the farmers around here pay great money for the help.  Plus they know we're the orphans of the town.

Yasha was the one that started it.  A long time ago he told me about living in New York City with his dad and half brother.  Then his dad had a heart attack and so he came to live with his mother here in Little Rock, Arkansas, while his half brother stayed in New York City to take care of their father.  His mother passed away when he was eleven, but instead of going back to New York City he'd stayed here and rounded up all the abused or unwanted by society kids here in our small town just outside of Little Rock and we hung out on his late mom's estate that she'd left to him in her will.  Of course he had a guardian or two, to help pay for the estate until he was of age, but he and his group of orphans went and worked like crazy on everyone's farms to help pay up when the time came.

By the time I joined up with them, it was a group of twelve boys, so far only one girl who was in the process of being adopted.  I became like her replacement, but my manner came out as cold.  The wounds my abusive mother made hadn't healed, and day after day they seemed to only open and get worse.

There were a few times I saw her going to the market, dressed in the rags she liked to call clothes, but more times then most I saw her going to the liquor store, and coming out with armfuls of bottles.  My mind took snapshots of her, and my wounds continued to stretch, until I'd formed a barricade against the world, never letting anyone see my emotions and blocking from view the scars and open wounds my mother had left.

That was until I was thirteen and Yasha figured out why I'd turned into solid ice over the two years I'd been with them so far.  He made it a challenge to break down my barricade, and though he has yet to complete his challenge, he has managed to make more then a few cracks in my shield.

"Hey!  Over here!" Heads turn when we enter the restaurant, but the wandering eyes aren't looking for Joey and me.  Finally they land on Yasha and his two strangers over in a corner of the restaurant, and since everyone in this little town just outside of Little Rock knows everyone, they smile and start to murmur about Yasha,_ that nice boy_.   Yet Yasha isn't a nice _boy_ anymore, but a great guy.  He's never told me his exact age, I don't think he really cares about anyone's age, but I've concluded that he's got to be at least nineteen by now.  His brother looks only a year older.  "C'mon, we've just ordered drinks.  Beth!" He calls the middle-aged waitress back to him as Joey sits down and I stand just behind, observing the table.

"I ain't staying," I say as my eyes land on Sesshoumaru, Yasha's older _half_ brother, whose giving me one of the coldest looks I've seen since I looked in a mirror.  Joey looks up at me with his disappointment shone clearly in his eyes.  "Here," I put down the money Joey and me earned over at Mr. Johanson's farm on the table just in front of Joey.  Sesshoumaru's eyes glance to my rough, red hand, that's from plucking the strawberries, then back into my eyes, as I watch him.  "I'll be back for Joey at 9."  With that I turn and quickly leave the restaurant.

"Oh c'mon now!  If I'm remembering right, it's your birthday!" Yasha calls after me, and I make the mistake of stopping dead._ He remembered?_  Shaking my head I more hurriedly leave the restaurant, with more than a few stares following me.

I move swiftly, knowing too well Yasha's following me, but I'm forced to stop dead as I pass the hometown bar.

"Is that my little angel?" Asks a voice and immediately I know who it is without a glance.  "How you doing baby?" continues the voice, and my vocal chords are tied in a knot as she addresses me.  "Haven't seen you in a _long_ time.  Been avoiding your own mother?"  Before she says it I know what's coming, the slur in her words told me what was coming the moment she'd opened her mouth.  Quickly I reinforce my barricade walls around me.  "_Stupid _bitch, always knew you weren't good for_ anything_.  Don't even have the brains to stick around and help your old mother.  Sometimes I'm glad your father left you, so you couldn't bring more shame to my family's name." Unfortunately, that's my breaking point.

I swing around and glare at the woman who dares call herself my mother and speak in a low, intimidating growl.  I'm well aware Yasha is approaching fast, but it doesn't matter.

"How dare you!" My volume steadily rises at each word.  "You cut me down with your dull dagger of a tongue since I was six!  If that wasn't enough, you broke all dad's furniture with my body!" Yasha comes stands just behind my mother, he's stopped moving and his eyes quickly dart from me to my mom.  "How dare you call yourself my mother?  Dad might a left cause of me, but you kept him away!" But my words weren't doing any good, they were only making her angrier and I watched her temper rise in those blue eyes, the color of which I'd inherited. The scars of my hatred, the ones that had finally healed at least, were beginning to reopen, and the others that had just began to close, sprang open with painful rejoice.

My mother lifted a hand to swat me, and I was close enough to receive it, and like I'd done when I was a child, I closed my eyes and waited for it. ­ 

"That's enough," comes a deep voice instead, and I squint through one eye to see what's happening.

Sesshoumaru stands with his back to me, but he separates me from my mother.  Behind my mother Yasha still stands with his eyes wide in amazement, still stunned from my exchange of dull daggers with my mother.  I open my eyes wide as Yasha's and stare at his half brothers back in disbelief.

_He's saving me?_

"Don't tell me what's enough and what isn't.  Didn't you hear that disrespect?"

"Yes, and I'm insulted you used it in front of this young lady." An awkward smile came to my lips at this, but what kept me from grinning dumbly was the fact he'd called me a _young lady_.  Meanwhile, mother was speechless, and though I couldn't see her face, since Yasha's half brother was not only in shape, but very tall, I knew my mother was glaring at him with squinted eyes, her face written over in dislike.

It was then I noticed just how white Sesshoumaru's muscle shirt was, and that made me grin dumbly.  The fact I was noticing how white someone's shirt was during this situation, was completely laughable, but I only stood immobile, grinning dumbly.

Still, somewhere in my highly guarded prison of a mind, I was wondering how he could have kept his shirt that clean in such a dusty, almost desert region.  Hell, even all the roads were dirt, and there was so much orange-red dust caked on these old buildings they looks mostly adobe, though I'm more than sure most of it's stucco.

Someone grabbed my arm and I was so deep in thought I nearly stumbled as they pulled me away from the scene.  For a fleeting panicked moment I had the deepest impression my mother had won the argument and was yanking me after her home, as she had done so many times when I was younger, nearly popping my arm out of its socket at least twice before we reached her dusty red Ford truck.  But as I looked ahead of me to who was pulling, I saw the back of Yasha's head and my heartbeat rapidly slowed until it was back to normal.

"So_ that_ was your mother?" Said a deep voice from behind me, startling my heart right back into my throat.  As I glanced back and saw Sesshoumaru's smirking face I suddenly realized that my mask had gone askew. 

Before he could blink I had my expressionless mask hiding any trace of my emotions once more, and I think he was a little shocked by it because suddenly his mask was replaced as well.  My eyes hardening, I turned my gaze back to Yasha, whose head moved so quick I'm sure he cricked his neck.  He'd been watching the exchange between his half brother and I, and had tried to pretend he hadn't been watching.

"Where's Joey?" I asked, surprising myself.

"Sure hope he's at the restaurant with Kagome still.  He still got that short attention span and reading problem?" By the tone in his voice I could tell Yasha was smiling.

"No.  Jake and me helped him with his reading," I stopped myself quickly, but knew it was too late.

"Really?  So Joey's cracked the safe too?" It was a term he often used when talking about my barricade.  Said my mind was like a safe, just waiting to be broken into and stolen from.  Instead of answering I pulled my arm out of his grip and quickened my pace so I entered the small-town restaurant before he could. 

My eyes scanned the heads and I noticed right away who was gone.  Before Sesshoumaru had even entered the restaurant I brushed past him and Yasha, my eyes scanning the surrounding darkness once outside.

Chapter Three:

Different While Alike

"Joey!" I call loudly, keeping my panic hidden by continually telling myself this is too small a town, and he couldn't have gone far.

But another part of my guarded mind is whispering about the dangers of this deserting land.  Of the snakes that house under porches, or through the tall weeds, or of the nasty farmers who are obsessed with trespassers, the nasty farmers that always have a rifle handy.  Then there's the most dangerous of all, and my worst fear is being confirmed by the whispers of not thoughts but of the people inside the restaurant. 

"Can you believe the scene Henry made?"

"That poor li'l Joe, don't see why the Social Workers haven't come to get 'im yet." 

"Cause of that frozen angel that he's always tagging along with.  Don't see why, haven't never seen that thing laugh."

"Wouldn't leave Angela for the world I'll reckon-," the whispering stops the second I step back into the restaurant.

"Henry, you mean Joey's dad?" I snap at the first neighborly face I see.

The middle-aged man, who I recognize as Beth's husband, nods very slowly, but that's good enough for me.  It's not the first time Joey's dad has come round to get him.  A calming hand reaches for my shoulder but I flinch and shrug it off, then without glancing at Yasha, I dodge back out the door of the restaurant and sprint as fast as my thin muscular legs will carry me towards Joey's dad's farm.

If I strain my ears, I can just hear Joey's calls for help and just as I round the first corner a loud slap resounds and anger boils inside of me.  _How could Yasha's wench let Henry take him?  Henry doesn't deserve Joey, Joey's mine._  These thoughts growl louder and louder as I sense I'm getting closer, and then I hang a sharp left past the town General store and see Henry dragging a sobbing Joey at his heels.

"Let go of him!" I scream, my rage having reached its peak once I'd made out the red beginning to appear on Joey's little cheek.  Out of surprise, I think, Henry releases Joey, who stumbles to his feet before sprinting to my side.

"Who do you think you are?  He's my son, I got any rights to do what I want with-,"

"_You don't deserve_ Joey." 

"Deserve?" Barks Henry, he's obviously drunk, but I can still see the anger beginning to boil in those sorrowful gray eyes of his.  Everyone in this town knew Joey's mother, Marlette.  She was the sick type, always had something?  Then she caught some rare and deadly form of Influenza and by the time Joey was six those same grays he's inherited from his father were watching her casket being lowered into the ground.

"Damn right, and you come near him again I'll have the police on my side." Henry only laughs and staggers toward me, I can feel Joey trembling at my side every step Henry takes, but that only angers me more.  It's the same fear I held from my mother, I was too afraid to defend myself.

But I'm braver now, perhaps stupider some might call it, and though Henry is three times my size and muscle capacity, I stand my ground and gently brush Joey behind me, so he's blocked from view.

"Joey's mine." Growls Henry as he sees what I'm doing, and I can see he's sobering up quickly as his temper rises.

"Wrong," I say loud and boldly, so even if he were a foreigner he'd have to understand.  "Joey's _mine_." By now Henry's within an arm's length of me, and he know it too unfortunately. Taking a drunken swing at me, I duck and grab Joey so he has to duck too.  As I look into Joey's sad gray eyes I can see his fear written there clearly, so I give him one of my most rare wide smiles and whisper, "go back to Beth's and stay with Yasha.  I'll be along."

Joey nods, though the fear increases in his eyes and I quickly find out why as a foot embeds itself in my side.

"Go!" I yell as my pain and anger mix.

Once Joey's vanished around the corner Henry lets loose.  I guess he _was_ holding back because Joey was still around.

"Dumb bitch, going and messing in my affairs!" Howls Henry as another foot lands in the right side of my ribs and I stay crumpled on the ground.

_No, this isn't happening.  Not again_.  I get to my feet quickly, ignoring the pain coursing through me and instead embrace the rage and hatred running through my veins.  In a flash I duck his sobering punch and run my smaller fists into his stomach.  He coughs a bit and becomes more sober, but I haven't done much damage.  Still, I haven't been pulling weeds, plucking strawberries, carrying hay bricks, and lifting crates for the past eight years for nothing.

Before he can get a chance I drop to my elbows and swing my legs around and run them into the back of Henry's knees so he's forced to buckle and kneel.  I stand quicker then an instant and run my knee into his nose before he can blink. And before I pull away I feel a satisfying crimson liquid running onto my baggy blue jeans at the knee.  

Then strong hands grip me and pull me away from the injured Henry, but my rage is still fresh and I turn on my capture, yet as I'm turning someone else catches my attention.  Joey's standing at the corner of the building, staring at me with wide eyes filled with horror.

At once my anger drops and my barricade crumbles and all strength I'd had leaves me as I realize what I've done.  I pull away from the strong grip, but instead of going back and finishing my prey as a fox would, I fall into a kneel and stare back at Joey wit a very small smirk, trying to coax him toward me.  Right there, there's only Joey and me, I could care less about anyone else, and all I want is Joey.  Joey gives a fearful look to me, and then looks to someone at his right, but my eyes remain on his and I know I must look and be acting like a fool.

Then he takes a slow step towards me, and then in a blink, he's in my arms, his little arms wrapped around my shoulders and I can do nothing but cradle him in my arms and listen to him sob.  I know without seeing his face he's watching Henry over my shoulder.

"I'm sorry," I whisper into his ear and plant an impromptu kiss on his temple.

Chapter Four:

The Collapse of A Fortress

 "Well, I always knew you were the gentlest creature there was… under all that dry Ice." I smiled into Joey's overgrown sand-colored hair, finally becoming aware of who else was there. 

Yasha stood where Joey had been, at the edge of that building.  The one who'd grabbed me was Sesshoumaru, who was staring at me funny.  Next to Yasha is his girlfriend, Kagome, looking as though any second she's gunna do one of those city-girl, "OOO! Look! How sweet!"  

"You ain't getting 'way that easy!" growls a gruff voice I know as Henry's, and I clutch Joey tighter and closer to me, closing my eyes and waiting for it.

But before any punches or kicks fly someone clears their throat.

"I don't think that's such good idea." Surprisingly it's Kagome, Yasha's girl, who speaks.  "You see, I think Sesshoumaru sort of _likes_ Angela, and though he doesn't really look it," shock settles over me at hearing this, but I'm still listening as she gives a nervous laugh and then continues.  "He's really tough.  And then Inuyasha thinks of Angela as a sister, so I don't think it would be that smart to so much as er, _rough her up_, anymore than you already have."  She speaks so properly I'm not used to it, but something tells me she's got the law on her side if her little speech doesn't work.  Yasha smiles at me as I look to him; he's practically rocking on his toes and heels with pride.

"Plus, Kagome's a lawyer." 

"Er, I'm a law _student_, Inuyasha." Corrects Kagome in an undertone, but Henry seems convinced as I hear a huff and then some drunk footsteps stumbling away, yet I hear them stop just as soon as they've started.

"Come near the boy again, and I'll send you to the hospital, before you spend life in jail." Threatens a deep voice I can easily recognize as Sesshoumaru's now.  There's a silence, and as I loosen my grip on Joey and turn to see, Sesshoumaru is just turning his back on Henry, who's looking at him with fearful yet angered gray eyes.  Those grays flicker to me, then too Joey, who buries his head deeper into my shoulder, then he turns and walks away, just as drunk as before, except now his nose is bleeding badly and his eyes are beginning to catch a tinge to them.

Chapter Five:

Home

 On my eighteenth birthday Yasha and Kagome's engagement was announced, and Kagome added in an undertone she'd graduated college and was already on a top-secret case.

Everyone in our small town had gathered at the restaurant to hear the news.  The guys and I whooped and hollered for Yasha; Tom went and treated Kagome to a Ginger ale (as she'd once told us she didn't drink).  Joey, Sesshoumaru, and I sat at a table next to them, sometimes the boys would come over and talk to me, laughing and telling jokes.  Then, once evening fell and things began to quiet down, Jake came over to our table and sat down close to me.

I hadn't completely changed, I still had the rubble of my barricade to hide my emotions when it was needed, yet where I would have just stared at him coldly, I now smirked at Jake as he took his seat, but also I smirked because I could see the warning in Sesshoumaru's eyes.

"Heard you got custody of li'l Joe and you're moving to the cities?" Asked Jake with a frown.  He had been elected new leader of the orphans… that had extended slightly upon their return from the city, Little Rock.  Now four new girls were in, as good as one more boy just three years older then Joey.  I nodded and knew the rubble was shifting to hide the sadness that was putting up a good fight to escape.  As if he'd sensed it, Sesshoumaru's arm suddenly found his way around my waist and a small smile crept back to my lips.

"You know the drill.  At eighteen we escape.  You think we helped the farmers for nothing all those years?" I said in an undertone.  Jake lent a small smile, but his sadness shone freely.  "'Sides, what fun would a nasty ol' leader like me be if I stayed?  Just some advice," I leaned in so if the eavesdropper Tom were around he wouldn't be able to hear.  "Tom's a cheapskate, and where that can be good for some, it sucks for others.  Understand?" Jake gave a short laugh and nodded.

"Hey!  You and my bro-,"

"_Half_," murmured Sesshoumaru under his breath.

"Getting hitched anytime soon?" Finished Yasha as if he hadn't heard his _half_ brother.

Most of the girls in the restaurant broke into fits of giggles, the orphan girls smiled widely but said nothing, and the orphan boys either made disgusted faces, or remained completely deadpan.  The other boys of this small town grinned at one another and then me.  All the adults seemed to lean in to hear my answer, and I noticed it all too. 

"That frozen angel," I heard a voice whisper in my ear and realized with a jolt it was Sesshoumaru, and the entire restaurant seemed to have realized it too as the room fell so quiet a mosquito could been heard buzzing. "Wouldn't leave that Angela for the world." 

For the first time in a _long_ while a brilliant smile spread across my lips, just before I kissed that cold prince of mine, Sesshoumaru.

A week later I was on a flight to New York City with Sesshoumaru on my left and Joey on my right.  I'd gotten a restraining order against Henry the second the court had finally let me adopt li'l Joe.  Gods knows I'm not Joey's biological mother, and that it would be impossible for me to ever claim such a thing when he gets older.  For now I don't have to worry bout things like that though.  All I need to worry about is Joey's safety, and Sesshoumaru's loyalty.

Later the next morning the plane landed and we said our goodbyes to Yasha and Kagome as we saw each other last in the airport.   Just as Sesshoumaru went to get our bags and Kagome took Joey to the gift shop, Yasha smiled brilliantly to me and I returned the favor, though having compromised with a small smile.

"Looks like more have broken into the safe, and my brother's even stolen something." He said happily and my smile widened ever so slightly then he let out a short laugh, obviously having thought of something else.  "Seems like li'l Joey got there first though." I nod and look to where Sesshoumaru's just coming back with my, his and Joey's bags, then to the gift shop where Kagome's carrying something like a small snow globe in her hand, and Joey's trailing behind her with a large smile spreading from ear to ear.  My smile fades a bit.

"What's that he's hiding behind his back?" Yasha turns to look to then laugh again. 

Behind his back a little puppy with white-silver fur is trudging along attached to a leash, looking scared to hell and out of place.  Sesshoumaru comes to my side and sets down a few of the bags, his beige jeans and black muscle shirt catching the corner of my eye as he does so.  I look up at him and notice he's got a miniscule smile on those pretty pale lips of his.

"They're selling 'em outta a box in there!  'Is name is Little Rock." Says Joey happier then one of my rare smiles could ever make him.

"Well?  You said we're gunna try living together… does Little Rock count?" Hiding his tiny smile from anyone that might an already noticed, he gives a tiny nod before taking up most of the bags again then walking off.  Giving Yasha a last hug, nodding to Kagome with a small smile, then taking Joey's hand and two bags in my other hand, I follow off after Sesshoumaru, Little Rock following Joey and me home.

**Disclaimer:**** This plot is mine, so are most of the characters, but I don't own (Inu) Yasha, Kagome, or Sesshoumaru.  **

**_Author's note:_**** I'm already busy with my other fan fictions, so I didn't have the time to upload and update each document separately… besides, with me it probably would never get done.  I know most were out of character, but I tried my best to color in the lines.  Sorry, but in this fan fiction it was just an idea I wanted to jot down, so I took everyone's appearances for granite.  If you want, and probably what I'll do anyways since it'll bug the crap outta me, is go and post a character log with their appearances and names and stuff… Hope you enjoyed!  Reviews are _more_ than welcome.**


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